Idiot
by Pheonee
Summary: You're an idiot." "Not helping, Toph." Sokka is detained; Toph tries to help. Or not. Well, she does anyway. Oneshot, Tokka.


This was written for the oneshot contest over on the Tokkaneers subforum at Kataang-Forever. It was received rather well over there, so thought I'd upload it and take my chances.

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"You're an idiot."

Sokka gave a weak laugh, which quickly turned into a cough as he shifted his arm gingerly.

"You do know that, right? That you're an absolute idiot moron, I mean."

"Not helping, Toph," he told her evenly.

"Not trying to help," she shot back, then gave another half-stilted roar of frustration. "You stupid, idiotic, moronic _fool_! Why did you have to go and get yourself hurt like that, you dope? Are you seriously too stupid to know that getting hurt is a _bad thing_?!"

"But you beat me up all the time," he reminded her blankly.

"That's _different_," snarled Toph, her dark brows drawn together, her eyes wide; she looked livid. "That's just a bit of bruising, and I _know_ you can handle a little bruising. This is just plain _idiotic_."

Two days earlier, Sokka had mentioned off-hand that the area the newly-reformed Gaang (sans Suki and Zuko as they were both busy) were currently travelling through was close to the place where he lost Boomerang and Space Sword. Toph had mentioned off-hand that it would be fun to go look for the lost weaponry, just the two of them. One thing lead to another and Toph, Sokka and Hawky had split from Katara and Aang to wander around the scrublands that had sprung up in the five years since the war had ended.

It was fun to be the Dynamic Duo all over again, until they were ambushed by a ragtag team of bandits who were significantly more well-armed than any ragtag team of bandits had good right to be.

"Well, sorry we can't all have eyes on our feet, miss Blind Bandit," mumbled Sokka, feeling tired.

"Your reaction time has really dulled since the war ended," said Toph in a relatively subdued voice. "If I hadn't gotten the jerk in time, he would've easily ripped out your respiratory system."

"Too bad you can't patch a bandage."

"Hey, I stopped the bleeding," said Toph testily. "That's something, at least."

"Hmm," agreed Sokka sleepily. They had dispatched most of the rebels easily, but one very enthusiastic sharp-pointy-stick-wielding junior had managed to sneak up behind Sokka and successfully laid open his arm and side. Toph took care of the attacker before he got a second shot in, but as it were the damage was done, and they couldn't do much beyond send Hawky off to find Katara and Aang.

"Well," intoned Sokka, making an effort to open his eyes, "you really saved my butt there Toph. Thanks for that."

Toph harrumphed, but Sokka thought she looked mildly graced. They sat in silence for a time.

It was really quite surprisingly comfortable there, Sokka thought. The ground was warm and soft, the sunset sky was gorgeous, he could hardly feel his wounds anymore, and Toph was sitting beside him, making him feel safe. In fact, he could almost just nod off...

"Sokka!" said Toph, but she sounded far away. "No, you idiot, don't fall asleep! You'll never wake up..." she made a funny sound then, but Sokka didn't really want to laugh. He just wanted to go to sleep.

"The sun's gone to sleep, Toph," he managed, but his lips were tired and he didn't know what it sounded like. "Let's both of us go to sleep too...just a rest...just until Katara and Aang get here."

He thought he heard her voice again, but everything was so slow and dark, he couldn't have been sure.

Suddenly, his heart randomly began trying to drill out of his rib cage, but when that didn't work it started trying to climb out of his throat instead. There was a funny tingle going down his cheek and shoulder, and he felt a peculiar sensation at the pit of his stomach, similar to the one he got when Appa really went full-throttle.

Sokka opened his eyes, and realised that Toph was kissing him.

All the fuzz/dust flew out of his brain in an instant, leaving him sharply awake and absolutely conscious of the warm lips pressed against his own. Every nerve ending started doing the Camelephant Strut on the surface of his body, and there were still shocks going through his body from where her fingers touched his skin.

She pulled away, breathing heavily.

Sokka blinked.

"So...what was that?"

"I kissed you," she replied acidly.

"Well, yeah, I know you kissed me," said Sokka, feeling strangely calm considering his heart, which had given up trying to clamber up his neck and had settled for going crazy inside his chest. "What I mean is why."

"To keep you awake," said Toph shortly, but she was blushing fiercely. "You can't fall asleep if you're losing gallons of blood, you'll die."

"Oh." Sokka blinked. "Hm. Well...I liked it," he grinned. "Do it again."

"No," she snapped, scooting away from him, still the colour of a tomato.

"I'll fall asleep again," he sang.

"No you won't," she shot back, but there was a hint of anxiety in her irritable reply.

"Will," he said, yawning.

"Don't," said she, definitely sounding worried now.

"Going to," he mumbled, his eyelids drifting shut.

"Sokka!" she cried exasperatedly.

"To-oph," he hummed back.

"Stay awake," she warned.

"Kiss me," he bargained cheekily.

"No!"

"Do it!" he couldn't resist the temptation to laugh, and regretted it when pain seared through his bandaged side. He couldn't help a swift gasp.

"Sokka--" Toph scrambled toward him, frantically brushing her hands over his face and arm with an unsettlingly uncharacteristic gentleness. Sokka stared at her in dumb shock, then slowly began to grin.

"Toph…"

She froze.

"Does the Blind Bandit _care_?"

"N…no."

"I think you do," he sang. "I think you care about me. Why _Toph_! Going soft in our old age, are we?"

"A few litres of blood loss will not deter me from beating you to a pulp, Meathead."

"Will too, you care."

"Last time I checked, I don't care if you live or die."

"Must be outdated information, because you _do_."

"You are a worthless idiot who thinks way too highly of himself," declared Toph, "and I don't give a damn about you."

"It's nothing to be shy about," said Sokka, grinning uncontrollably. "Everyone's got to let down that tough exterior some time or other."

"Not me. I'm the Blind Bandit."

"Admit it, you care."

"No."

"Ah, so you do care, just won't admit it?"

"I _don't_—"

"You _do_, stop denying it. No," he insisted when Toph opened her mouth to speak again. "No, no—eh, ah, ah, nup. Not a word unless you admit you care about me."

Toph seemed to struggled with herself for a moment, then the undeniable urge to tell the truth overcame her and she spat out a choked "I care!" There was then another brief struggle before she launched into a full-scale confession rant.

"I care about you and I care about Katara and Aang and Zuko and the world, but I care about you the most because you're smart and strong and you're a great swordsman especially considering how wimpy you are and the greatest strategist I've ever known, even though you're a huge stupid idiot moron some—most—of the time, and you're criminally nice and you really care about me, the real me, enough to help me when I'm not the Bandit but just Toph, even though I beat you up all the time—"

It was amazing. It was spectacular. It was like word vomit. It was the least Toph-like thing Sokka had ever seen.

"It's the greatest feeling in the world to know that you have someone you can trust with your life and soul in any situation because they're just that awesome, and I reckon you're pretty much the best guy ever, but at the same time I can't stand you, because I can't stand it when you kiss Suki within a three-mile radius of me, because it hurts to know she can make your heart race and I can't ever do it because I'm your best friend, because I'm one of the guys, because I'm _Toph_. I can't stand what you do to me; I hate how you can make my insides feel like mush, I hate how you can make my heartbeat go quicker and make it hard to breathe, I hate how much it hurts when you don't give me the time of the day but at the same time I can't leave, I can't just walk away and leave you there, I have to keep coming back again and again no matter how many times my heart breaks because I _love_ you, I love you _so much_ it hurts—"

Sokka grabbed her by the collar with his good arm, yanked her down to his level, and smashed their lips together.

Toph continued to mumble against his mouth for a second, then melted against his body, wrapping her arms around his neck and lifting his head off the ground for better leverage. Her head was tilting as she mouthed against him, clumsy but so graceful at the same time.

The kiss lasted for what felt like eons and seemed to taste sweeter with every passing second, but Sokka pulled back when his oxygen supply gave out. Both were panting heavily and Toph was clutching his shoulders so hard it almost hurt, but he didn't care a jot. All that mattered was the girl—_woman—_in front of him.

"How long?" he breathed, still heaving.

Toph snorted. "Try since I was _twelve_."

"We were still fighting in the century war then," he gasped.

"Made me appreciate you more," she mumbled.

"But Toph, why didn't you say something earlier--?" he was cut off by Toph leaning forward and kissing him so tenderly yet heatedly his brain felt like it was dripping out his ears.

They broke apart once more and Sokka had to work hard to focus on talking, and not just taking her there and then. "Toph," he managed, before she pulled him in again.

"_Toph_," he insisted, but she placed a finger over his lips.

"No talking," she growled playfully, and kissed him again.

"Mff," said Sokka.

"Mff," agreed Toph, licking his lips.

"_Mff_," moaned Sokka before the dawn sky spun into a mess of lights and every rational thought he had ever thunk evaporated in the heat of passion.

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Reviews are kindly appreciated. Don't feel too pressured though. But I seriously love getting feedback. Seriously.


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